The public's right to know
JR notes proposed legislation in the state Senate that would call for all public employee compensation packages and employment contracts to be considered public records.
That would have seemed a foregone conclusion, but a state appeals court essentially ruled in 2005 that only the salaries needed to be revealed in a case involving the Charlotte Observer, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Hospital Authority and the Carolinas Medical Center.
That ruling led to the interpretation by some, including the UNC-Chapel Hil School of Government, "that no public personnel pay packages – beyond salary – could be disclosed and that employment contracts were secret."
Such notion is both preposterous and dangerous.
For more explanation from the N.C. Press Association, click here.
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